Changes to inflight service and offerings

[milehighclub]

From tomorrow:
WIFI and all IFE will be turned off.

As of last Friday:
Domestic flight catering is a bottle of water plus a refreshment box in Business or refreshment item in Economy until at least May.

Changes already implemented for some time:
No hot towels
Inflight magazine removed

 

[flyingfan]

Thanks for sharing.

Things are getting decidedly uncomfortable. I feel sorry for those who still have to fly at the moment.

 

[muppet]

Changes already implemented for some time:
No hot towels

Lol
Qantas?

I haven’t seen a hot towel in about 3 years. International and domestic.

Edit: actually I think I did have one about a year about but i think I was in first class.

 

[flyingfan]

I miss the hot towels. Sometimes it felt a bit OTT but often it was nice to at least have the feeling of cleaning your hands (without having to go to the onboard loo) after making your way from the lounge, waiting, boarding and handling your carryon. Imagine onboard hand sanitiser.

 

[Daver6]

I cannot fathom any logical reason for wifi being disabled. Anyone?

 

[flyingfan]

I cannot fathom any logical reason for wifi being disabled. Anyone?

Cost?

 

[defurax]

I cannot fathom any logical reason for wifi being disabled. Anyone?

I can only guess QF pays some sort of license or subscription for their entire fleet of Wi-Fi enabled aircraft. So maybe cheaper to just cancel the subscription...

 

[milehighclub]

Both related to cost. Wifi costs for the service and IFE requires licenses paid for every single piece of content.

 

[Captain Halliday]

I cannot fathom any logical reason for wifi being disabled. Anyone?

90 mins peace and quiet without any mention of Covid-19?

Prevent people complaining on Facebook about the scaled-back in flight service?

 

[RichardMEL]

I only thought QF did hot towels on international anyway? I recall they were on domestic too but not for quite some time.

Never really bothered me to be honest.

And very understandable removal in these times. The others are clearly cost.

Given the low load factors I am sure the flights are pretty comfy even if services are lacking.

 

[dylarr]

For anyone interested, NBN Co wholesale charges for the service Qantas uses for in-flight Wi-Fi are as follows:

- $9060/month for the circuit (charged per aircraft)
- plus $2130/month for each Mbps of provisioned bandwidth (CVC), with minimum of order of at least 100Mbps (charged per aircraft)

So at least $222,060 per month per aircraft and that's just the NBN wholesale charges. Doesn't include IP transit, management and other service provider charges. With most of the planes grounded, it's not surprising Qantas wants to turn this off for now to save some dosh.

 

[RichardMEL]

Well then... that's a heck of a lot of money.

And for all the pax who pay nothing up front for it.... well.

It's very generous of QF to offer it for free (though you wonder if post this they will decide to charge). It's a very good service, speeds great (I have watched footy games during flight with no issue) and works very well.

very understandable to shut it off at this time.

 

[defurax]

It the numbers are correct it sounds insane. That would be $178,000,000 for 67 B737. So roughly 13% of Qantas group pre-tax profit in 2019 to offer wifi.

 

[Daver6]

Those numbers don't seem to add up. QF make money off it though as by using it, QF is tracking your usage and building up even more data about you.

 

[AustraliaPoochie]

At least QF can write the expenses off as pre tax allowable deductions, just as we can write off expenses spent connected with our employment, for us humans, under Aud$300 no paperwork needed in regards to ATO.
Other airlines do charge a fee to use inflight wifi, I would not be surprised if QF go back to charging.

 

[Danger]

I can only guess QF pays some sort of license or subscription for their entire fleet of Wi-Fi enabled aircraft. So maybe cheaper to just cancel the subscription...

Perhaps the provider will tell Qantas they can't get a refund, but can hold the value in credit for use on an equal or higher subscription in the next 12 months.

 

[woodborer]

Perhaps the provider will tell Qantas they can't get a refund, but can hold the value in credit for use on an equal or higher subscription in the next 12 months.

Unused data doesn't rollover to the next period.

Post automatically merged: Apr 3, 2020

- $9060/month for the circuit (charged per aircraft)
- plus $2130/month for each Mbps of provisioned bandwidth (CVC), with minimum of order of at least 100Mbps (charged per aircraft)

Seems an awful lot per Mbps?

 

[dylarr]

Seems an awful lot per Mbps?

It's crazy isn't it?

It's a part of NBN's 'Satellite Mobility' product, which I believe was created for Qantas initially.

Just like how regular NBN Service Providers have to purchase CVC for their customers per Mbps (but at a much, much lower rate), NBN also created "M-CVC" for its Satellite Mobility product. And it's probably the most expensive bandwidth known to man!

They publish the price list here:

https://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/2018/documents/sell/SFAA-Satellite-Mobility-LCPA-Agreement-Price-List-20171019.pdf

If anyone is geeky enough there is a technical description of the product here. To add insult to injury, despite the price paid per Mbps, this traffic is given the lowest priority over all other NBN services if the satellite is congested.

 

[Franky]

It's crazy isn't it?

It's a part of NBN's 'Satellite Mobility' product, which I believe was created for Qantas initially.

Just like how regular NBN Service Providers have to purchase CVC for their customers per Mbps (but at a much, much lower rate), NBN also created "M-CVC" for its Satellite Mobility product. And it's probably the most expensive bandwidth known to man!

They publish the price list here:

https://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/2018/documents/sell/SFAA-Satellite-Mobility-LCPA-Agreement-Price-List-20171019.pdf

If anyone is geeky enough there is a technical description of the product here. To add insult to injury, despite the price paid per Mbps, this traffic is given the lowest priority over all other NBN services if the satellite is congested.

I'm in awe of people who know all about this stuff...

 

[Daver6]

They publish the price list here:

https://www.nbnco.com.au/content/dam/nbnco2/2018/documents/sell/SFAA-Satellite-Mobility-LCPA-Agreement-Price-List-20171019.pdf

I'd be surprised if Qantas is paying the list price.